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This is a video for a project called Donate a Smile which was brilliantly created by Ibrahim Khayat, Asma’a Mohurji and Ahad Yamani, all of which are medical students at King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Medicine. It will be played in the closing ceremony of the 7th Scientific Conference for Medical Students in the GCC Countries.

This video features smiles from different faces in KAU Hospital including students, doctors and professors, nurses and ancillary staff.

I hope it makes you smile just like it made me. Kudos for an amazing job.

PS. I’m not featured in the video because I was at NYC at the time

By now, I have no doubt that everyone has heard about Jeddah’s Black Wednesday. I am sure that everyone has read the reports, seen the pictures and watched the videos that tell of a tragedy which is unparalleled in our city’s history. The city was flooded by the heaviest rain it witness in 3 decades.

The official death count of 109 people including many children and women is a clear underestimation of the actual numbers according to many sources. Hundreds are missing and thousands of homes, stores and vehicles have been gravely damaged.

I’m not going to address the causes of this tragedy that could only be described as shameful and a disgrace in such a country and in such a city with this much potential and available resources. King Abdullah’s recently issued royal decree is everything we need.

If you open any local newspaper you will find at least 10 articles and 10 columnists discussing this incident. However, I want to voice out a personal opinion of mine as a physician that hasn’t been expressed yet by someone else, at least to my knowledge.

On Saturday, December 5, all house officers, residents and senior doctors are supposed to come back to work at KAUH. It’s true that the hospital has been evacuated and there is only a minimal number of patients in the wards and ICU units. However, that does not mean by anyway that we should not come to the hospital.

When reports surfaced that rain is expected during this weekend and on Saturday and Sunday, I’ve been getting calls from many fellow house officers, medical students and family members inquiring about the state of the hospital as I have worked for 2 days there after the crisis. Everyone is scared and fearful for his/her own life which is their given right but I noticed something else.

Many people have been trying to pressure me into not going to the hospital and into not going to my scheduled on-calls. Those include close friends and family members who kept telling me don’t you fear for your life? What if something happened? What if floods happened all over again and you were stuck in the hospital? This past Wednesday when I was on-call there was a small shower of rain there near the hospital at noon and immediately everyone was thinking of going back home and telling me to leave.

Being stuck at the hospital during that time of crisis is where I want to be. Staying at home and being idle doesn’t suit me. My family went crazy when I said I wanted to go to the hospital in the second day after the floods to offer any assistance I can. I would have gone but those I knew within the hospital told me that it’s not easily accessible so I didn’t but I so damn wanted to go.

It is during those times that we, as doctors, should be at hospitals and clinics. We shouldn’t be the first ones to flee the ship when it’s sinking! We shouldn’t abandon our workplaces. I have seen and heard of many fellow doctors who wouldn’t come to work for fear that something might happen using the excuse that there’s nothing to do at the moment. But when something happens and there’s a need for physicians, the hospital will be empty, unprepared and inaccessible because we, the ones who are supposed to help others, decided to help ourselves only. I’m not saying that it is somewhat understandable though.

I guess it’s just a personal choice depending on your own beliefs. You could be the one trying to save lives and to cure the ill albeit the danger or you could be the one fleeing the ship to safety and no one will blame you because it’s your right too.

Issue 1 is OUT NOW!

The first newsletter to be published by KAU Medical School is finally out. It was a dream that has finally come true after a year of planning and hard work. This newsletter is the result of the collaboration of many talented and exceptional individuals who didn’t spare neither time nor effort to make this thought become reality.

I can’t adequately describe the way I felt as students, house officers, residents and even consultants flipped through the pages with admiring eyes today as we distributed the newsletter throughout college and the university hospital. The feedback we have been getting is overwhelming to say the least. All the hours and sleepless nights invested in this project are paying off now.

This is only the beginning. I hope that the best is yet to come. I can’t imagine what it must feel like if a couple of years from now I came back to my medical school and saw the 20th or 30th issue being distributed.

Today, I sleep well with a proud heart!

All KAU Medical students and doctors are welcome to join us. Please send your contributions and information to our email address and we will contact you back.

Email: 

or more information regarding distribution and where you can find your copy visit our Facebook Group.

The E-version should be available within a few days on the KAU Faculty of Medicine website.

Please read the newsletter and spread the word. Share it with your friends and tell others. All comments and feedback are appreciated.

PS. I’m the Editor-in-Chief

This article will not be discussing Swine Flu/H1N1 virus in details but rather will address the current status of Swine Flu in Saudi Arabia in addition to some educational tips. For more information visit the Wikipedia 2009 Flu Pandemic Page or Center of Disease Control H1N1 Flu Page

First of all, let’s address the nomenclature. There have been a lot of debate that Swine Flu is not an accurate name to describe the condition caused by the H1N1 virus which is a mutation of four strains of influenza virus, two of which are endemic in pigs. However, for easier reference, Swine Flu in this article will be addressed as such.

There have been over 300 reported cases of Swine Flu in Saudi Arabia to this date with 4 unfortunate fatalities. There could be even more than 300 cases documented but the Ministry of Health have decided that it will not publish daily counts of the disease unless there are specific causes to do so because most of those cases are considered mild. However, the Ministry is keeping track of those numbers to monitor the progress of the disease.

The 4 deaths occurring in 3 different regions of the kingdom are sparking alarm. The first fatality was of a 30-year old Saudi man who passed away in Dammam, Eastern Province, despite hospitalization and treatment with antiviral medications. The second fatality also occurred in the Eastern Province and it was of an Indonesian expatriate who was 28 years old. The 3rd case was of Saudi male nurse in Al-Qasseem who was 32 years old. The last one to reported was in the Northern region of a 25-year old Saudi man.

These numbers are particularly alarming when we consider the fact that Hajj season is just around the corner. Pilgrimage usually takes place one time a year during Dhu al-Hijjah which the month of Hajj according to the Hijri Islamic calender. It is only 3 months away and plenty of those hoping to perform Hajj will be start visiting the holy cities starting from the month of Ramadan and afterwards.

The ministry of health has again confirmed that it has a clear strategy regarding this year’s Hajj season of which the cases of Swine Flu are expected to escalate. One of the first steps of control is that the Arab Health Ministries in their meeting in July in agreement with the Saudi Ministry of Health has decided to prevent certain vulnerable groups from performing Hajj this year including but not limited to: Men over 65 years of age, children under 12, patients with chronic debilitating diseases and pregnant women.

World Health Organization also has issued its recommendations for the Swine Flu vaccine that is expected to be available at the end of 2009, which prioritize the following groups to receive it: Household contacts of children younger than 6 months, Children and young people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years, Health-care workers and emergency medical service personnel and those with conditions that increase the risk of complications from influenza. It is also recommended to take the seasonal flu vaccine in addition.

There have been reports that hospitals in Makkah are not well equipped to deal with the large number of pilgrims expected this year, nearly 2 millions, with insufficient amounts of antiviral medications and seemingly absence of required vaccines. The Ministry of Health is currently working on this.

One of the main issues in Saudi Arabia is the lack of health education. There have not been much reports or public messages to increase the public;s knowledge of this condition, how to prevent it, when to seek medical attention and to rectify many of the misconceptions regarding this disease, one of which I have heard of myself; we can’t have swine flu here in Saudi Arabia because we don’t have pigs! More effort should be put in this area to educate the public especially now when Hajj season is near.

Now is Swine Flu a well staged play that is not actually worrisome? Some of you are well aware that the “regular” Influenza virus kills over thousands if not tens of thousands of people every winter each year. So why the worry from Swine Flu which its international death toll is not over a thousand yet? Well, the facts that its spread is more rapid than the usual strains in addition to the fatalities that happened to young men and women that were considered healthy otherwise. However, you do not need to panic.

Just take a quick look at the two links I have posted above and follow the required precautions and inshallah you’ll be just fine. May God keep you safe and healthy!

PS. You are free to eat pigs since its consumption does not lead to Swine Flu. However, it is Haram you know!

That’s the name of the lecture that is going to be given by Professor Tariq Madani tomorrow inshallah in KAUH’s main auditorium from 11:30 a.m. till 1.00 p.m. 

Swine Flu is probably the most talked about disease these days especially with thousands of people infected all over the world  and tens of unfortunate deaths. 

The Saudi Minisir of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah has confirmed a few days ago that there are no recorded cases of Swin Flu in Saudi Arabia to this date. 

Professor Tariq Madani is a professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases with a remarkable curriculum vitae. He’s a personal adviser to His Excellency the Minister of Health since 2001. 

All health care workers are invited to attend. 

For more information on Swine Flu: Center of Disease Control and Prevention, Wikipedia

GCC7 Med Students Conf. Logo

This Conference is an annual event which rotates around the GCC Countries. It began at the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain in 2003 and to date has been held in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman.

The conference is organized by students for students and aims to provide a forum to encourage and facilitate scientific exchange and research collaboration among students in the region and the world.

It is our pleasure to announce that “The 7th Scientific Conference for Medical Students in the GCC Countries” will be held in the Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul Aziz University (KAU), Jeddah  City, February 13-16, 2010.

This event will attract Medical and Science undergraduate and post-graduate students from all over the world and will include keynote presentations from renowned international scientists, oral and poster communications, workshops, a scientific exhibition and a variety of exciting social events.

The introductory meeting for students interested in becoming part of the organizing committee will be held next Wednesday, May 6, in the main auditorium of KAUH at 12:oo p.m.  This is the facebook event LINK.

The Official Website: http://www.gcc7medconf.org/ - Still under construction.

This Thursday, April 16th, I’ll be presenting one of my researches entitled, “Do We Need Career Counseling? Evaluating Medical Students’ Knowledge About Postgraduate Career Options” inshallah. It clearly touches on a very important topic that hasn’t been sufficiently studied in Saudi medical colleges yet. Hopefully this will shed a light on this issue and aid us in starting the process of fixing it. Our project, Career Counseling Center, is still under development and inshallah it will be fully running by next year.